Report says hunger on the rise in Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A report from the University of Missouri says the number of people worrying about not having enough food is on the rise.

The university’s latest Missouri Hunger Atlas says an average of 16 percent of Missouri households experienced “food insecurity” from 2009 through 2011, meaning they were concerned about not having enough food.

That’s up from an average of 8.6 percent from 1999 to 2001.

Sandy Rikoon directs the university’s Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security in Columbia. He says deeper food insecurity rates in Missouri’s inner cities and rural areas are comparable to national trends.

A decade ago, 2.3 percent of Missouri’s population was classified as “food insecure with hunger.” The new report says that figure has tripled to 6.7 percent.